Conversation Capture

ABSTRACT

Solutions for capturing and displaying conversation history for providing conversation capture functionality. Some such solutions use a user supersystem as a communications hub to capture and/or generate relevant information for enhancing conversations with contacts, including address book information, contact notes, conversation history information, and/or conversation anchors. The information may then be processed for display to the user via a graphical interface.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), ofprovisional U.S. Application Ser. No. 61/331,316, filed on May 4, 2010by van der Flier et al. and entitled “Conversation Capture” (attorneydocket no. 020366-104100US), the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference. This Application may also be relatedto the following commonly-assigned, co-pending applications (the“Related Applications”), the entire disclosure of each which is herebyincorporated by reference:

U.S. application Ser. No. 12/773,742, filed May 4, 2010, by Gibson etal. and entitled “Multi-Client Local Network Base Station” (attorneydocket no. 020366-103700US);

U.S. application Ser. No. 12/773,747, filed May 4, 2010 by Zambetti etal. and entitled “Family Chat” (attorney docket no. 020366-103900US);

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith by Mehinet al. and entitled “Integrated Multi-Modal Chat” (attorney docket no.020366-104010US), which claims the benefit of provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 61/331,311, filed on May 4, 2010 by Mehin et al.and entitled “Integrated Multi-Modal Chat” (attorney docket no.020366-104000US);

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith by Mehinet al., and entitled “Video Call Handling” (attorney docket no.020366-104210US), which claims the benefit of provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 61/331,337, filed on May 4, 2010 by Mehin et al.,and entitled “Video Call Handling” (attorney docket no.020366-104200US);

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith byZambetti et al., and entitled “Multi-User Integrated Task List”(attorney docket no. 020366-104310US), which claims the benefit ofprovisional U.S. Application Ser. No. 61/331,318, filed on May 4, 2010by Zambetti et al., and entitled “Multi-User Integrated Task List”(attorney docket no. 020366-104300US);

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith byZambetti et al. and entitled “Video Recording Environment” (attorneydocket no. 020366-104510US), which claims the benefit of provisionalU.S. Application Ser. No. 61/331,339, filed on May 4, 2010 by Zambettiet al and entitled “Video Recording Environment” (attorney docket no.020366-104500US);

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith byZambetti et al. and entitled “Photo Stack” (attorney docket no.020366-104610US), which claims the benefit of provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 61/331,341, filed on May 4, 2010 by Zambetti etal., and entitled “Photo Stack” (attorney docket no. 020366-104600US);

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith byZambetti et al. and entitled “Content-Driven Navigation” (attorneydocket no. 020366-104710US), which claims the benefit of provisionalU.S. Application Ser. No. 61/331,342, filed on May 4, 2010 by Zambettiet al. and entitled “Content-Driven Navigation” (attorney docket no.020366-104700US); and

U.S. application Ser. No. ______, filed on a date even herewith by Mehinet al. and entitled “Doodle-In-Chat Context” (attorney docket no.020366-104810US), which claims the benefit of provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 61/331,344, filed on May 4, 2010 by Mehin et al.and entitled “Doodle-In-Chat Context” (attorney docket no.020366-104800US).

FIELD

This disclosure relates, in general, to communications networks andservices and, more particularly, to provision of enhanced communicationsand connectivity among users.

BACKGROUND

In many typical communications environments, users interact withcommunications services through a local network. For example, userswithin a home, office, enterprise branch location, etc. may interfacewith outside networks through routers and/or other network accesssystems. As voice, video, Internet, and other types of communicationsservices converge, and as user network devices become increasinglyportable, the network access systems are increasingly becoming hubs forsubstantially all user communications in proximity to the user's localnetwork.

The increase in convergence and portability has provided many new typesof user devices for interacting with communications services through theuser's local network. However, there is typically little interactivitybetween the devices. As such, it may be difficult and/or inconvenient touse the devices in an integrative fashion, for example, to facilitate anintegrated family or office environment.

In addition, while the increased functionality of personalcommunications technology has provided many benefits, many users, and inparticular users within a household, have sometimes had difficulty inadapting that technology to household communications patterns. Ittherefore would be beneficial for modern household communicationssystems to conform more closely to household users' communicationpatterns, rather than forcing the household users to conform to usagepatterns imposed by the technology.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Among other things, this disclosure describes tools and techniques forproviding integrated, interactive communications services among multipleclient devices in a local network. Some embodiments allow multiple userdevices to be used in an integrative fashion to provide home managementfunctionality, messaging functionality, videoconferencing functionality,cloud network interaction functionality, media sharing functionality,and/or other functionality. In another aspect, certain embodimentsprovide enhanced communication functionality by implementing chat,household activity tracking, media capture, and other communicationfunctions in a manner that more closely conforms to typical householdcommunications, resulting in an improve user experience, and in somecases, a more connected household.

One set of embodiments provides a communication system comprising acomputing device. The communication system might also include otherdevices, such as a data store (which might take the form of a computerreadable medium, and/or might include one or more databases, and/or thelike), one or more display devices, one or more input devices, and oneor more media capture devices (e.g., video capture devices, such asdigital still or motion cameras, audio capture devices, such asmicrophones, and/or the like), all of which might be in communicationwith the computing device. In some cases, the data store, displaydevices, input devices, and/or media capture devices might be integratedwithin the computing device, while in other cases, they might beseparate. In a particular aspect, the computing device might include (orbe in communication with) one or more touch screens, which can serve asboth a display device and an input device.

In an aspect, the computing device comprises at least one processor andat least one computer readable storage medium in communication with theat least one processor. The at least one computer readable storagemedium might have encoded thereon a set of instructions that areexecutable by the processor to cause the computer system to perform oneor more operations in accordance with the functionality of variousembodiments, as described in further detail below and in the RelatedApplications. (It should be noted that, in some aspects, each of theRelated Applications describe different feature sets that can beincluded and/or combined in any suitable fashion within particularembodiments.)\

In some cases, the computing device might be a general purpose computer,while in others it might take the form of a personal media device, smartphone, tablet computer, and/or the like. In still other cases, thecomputing device might be a special-purpose device designed specificallyto provide the described functionality.

According to another set of embodiments, the computing device might bepart of a supersystem that provides interactive communications serviceswithin a local network. The supersystem might include a tablet system, ahandset system, and/or a base station system, any (or all) of which canserve as the computing device according to various implementations. Thetablet system might include a first client subsystem and a first userinterface module configured to provide interactivity with firstcommunications services provided by the first client subsystem, thefirst client subsystem being communicatively coupled with the localnetwork and a second client subsystem. The handset system might includea second client subsystem and a second user interface module configuredto provide interactivity with second communications services provided bythe second client subsystem, the second client subsystem beingcommunicatively coupled with the local network and the first clientsubsystem. The base station system might include a first interfacesubsystem configured to removably couple the base station with thetablet system and a second interface subsystem configured to removablycouple the base station with the handset system.

In one set of embodiments, the set of instructions is executable by theprocessor to cause the computing device to perform one or operationsthat might be considered part of a method (which itself can be aseparate embodiment). Thus, the tools provided by various embodimentscan include, without limitation, methods, systems, and/or softwareproducts. Merely by way of example, a method might comprise one or moreprocedures, any or all of which are executed by a computer system.Correspondingly, an embodiment might provide a computer systemconfigured with instructions to perform one or more procedures inaccordance with methods provided by various other embodiments.Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set of instructions thatare executable by a computer system (and/or a processor therein) toperform such operations. In many cases, such software programs areencoded on physical, tangible and/or non-transitory computer readablemedia (such as, to name but a few examples, optical media, magneticmedia, and/or the like).

Merely by way of example, in one embodiment, a communication system forfacilitating enhanced communications might comprise a computing device(e.g., as described above). The set of instructions for controllingoperation of the device might include, for example, instructions forstoring, in the data store, contact data about a plurality of contacts,each of the contacts being an entity with whom a user of thecommunication system may engage in communications. The set ofinstructions might further include instructions for identifying acontact of interest, which can include, e.g., instructions forreceiving, through a user interface, a selection of the contact ofinterest from an address book application. The set of instructions mightfurther comprise instructions for obtaining, e.g., from the data store,a first set of contact information pertaining to the contact ofinterest. In one aspect, the contact information might comprise aconversation history comprising data about one or more previouscommunications involving the contact of interest.

In other embodiments, the set of instructions includes instructions forgenerating one or more conversation anchors pertaining to the contact ofinterest. In one aspect, the instructions for generating one or moreconversation anchors might comprise instructions for searching a seconddata store using at least a portion of the first set of contactinformation as a search criteria, and/or instructions for generating oneor more conversation anchors comprising information returned from asearch of the second data store. In various implementations, the seconddata store might comprise public information relating to the at least aportion of the first set of contact information, such as, for example,geographical information relating to an address of the contact ofinterest (e.g, information about events occurring near the address,etc.). Alternatively and/or additionally, the instructions for searchingthe second data store might comprise instructions for searching at leastone data store over the Internet (e.g., using a third party searchengine, etc.).

In some cases, there may be instructions for providing communicationbetween the user and the contact of interest. There might also beincluded instructions for displaying at least one of the one or moreconversation anchors in conjunction with the communication between theuser and the contact of interest.

In a set of embodiments, the communication is voice communication (e.g,placing or receiving a telephone call, such as a VoIP call, a POTS call,etc.), and the instructions for displaying at least one of the one ormore conversation anchors in conjunction with the communication betweenthe user and the contact of interest might comprise instructions fordisplaying the at least one of the one or more conversation anchors on adisplay screen of the computing device during the voice communications.If the telephone call is received by the system, the instructions foridentifying a contact of interest might comprise instructions foridentifying the contact of interest based at least in part on calleridentification information associated with the telephone call.Alternatively, if the telephone call is placed by the system, theinstructions for displaying at least one of the one or more conversationanchors in conjunction with the communication between the user and thecontact of interest might comprise instructions for displaying the atleast one of the one or more conversation anchors on a display screen ofthe computing device prior to placing the telephone call.

In some particular embodiments, the voice communication comprises videocommunication. In such embodiments, the instructions for providingcommunication might comprise instructions for displaying the videocommunication in a first region of the display screen, and/or theinstructions for displaying the at least one of the one or moreconversation anchors might include instructions for displaying the atleast one of the one or more conversation anchors in a second region ofthe display screen.

In another set of embodiments, the communication might be textualcommunication, such as an electronic mail message, a chat message, atext message, a short messaging service (“SMS”) message, a multimediamessaging service (“MMS”) message, and/or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1A shows a simplified block diagram of an illustrative usersupersystem in communication with a provider network, according tovarious embodiments.

FIG. 1B shows a simplified block diagram of another illustrative usersupersystem in communication with a provider network, where the basestation system provides little or no communications functionality,according to various embodiments.

FIG. 1C shows a simplified block diagram of yet another illustrativeuser supersystem in communication with a provider network, where thebase station system physically interfaces only with the tablet system,and where certain standard tablet system and handset system componentsare used, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows a communications system that includes a user network havingmultiple clients, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows a communications system that includes multiple usernetworks, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of a base station system in thecontext of certain other devices and systems, according to variousembodiments.

FIG. 5 shows a functional block diagram of a client subsystem in thecontext of certain other devices and systems, according to variousembodiments.

FIG. 6 shows a simplified block diagram of an illustrative computationalsystem for use in implementing components of various embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a family communications environment,in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 8 shows a simplified block diagram of an illustrativecommunications system for providing conversation capture functionality,according to various embodiments.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of an illustrative data system forproviding conversation capture functionality using a conversationsubsystem, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method for providingconversation capture functionality, according to various embodiments.

FIGS. 11-13 are exemplary screen shots showing examples of userinterfaces that may be presented to a user, in accordance with variousembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates, in general, to communications networksand services and, more particularly, to providing communicationsservices through a communications hub disposed within a local network.

In many typical communications environments, users interact withcommunications services through a local network. For example, userswithin a home, office, enterprise branch location, etc. may interfacewith outside networks through routers and/or other network accesssystems. As voice, video, Internet, and other types of communicationsservices converge, and as user network devices become increasinglyportable, the network access systems are increasingly becoming hubs forsubstantially all user communications in proximity to the user's localnetwork.

The increase in convergence and portability has provided many new typesof user devices for interacting with communications services through theuser's local network. However, there is typically little interactivitybetween the devices. As such, it may be difficult and/or inconvenient touse the devices in an integrative fashion, for example, to facilitate anintegrated family or office environment.

Embodiments allow multiple user devices to be used in an integrativefashion to provide home management functionality, messagingfunctionality, videoconferencing functionality, cloud networkinteraction functionality, media sharing functionality, and/or otherfunctionality. According to some embodiments, a supersystem is providedthat includes at least one base station and at least two clients.Functionality of the supersystem and its component systems will beappreciated through various illustrative embodiments described herein.

The following detailed description illustrates exemplary embodiments infurther detail to enable one of skill in the art to practice theinvention. In the following description, for the purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without some of these specific details. In other instances,well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form.Several embodiments of the invention are described below and, whilevarious features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should beappreciated that the features described with respect to one embodimentmay be incorporated with another embodiment as well. By the same token,however, no single feature or features of any described embodimentshould be considered essential to the invention, as other embodiments ofthe invention may omit such features.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

Turning first to FIG. 1A, a simplified block diagram is shown of anillustrative user supersystem 100 in communication with a providernetwork 160, according to various embodiments. The user supersystem 100includes a base station system 110, a tablet system 120, and a handsetsystem 130. Each of the tablet system 120 and the handset system 130includes a client subsystem 140.

The user supersystem 100 interfaces with the provider network 160 via anetwork access system 150. As described more fully below, the networkaccess system 150 may include a network interface device (NID), a router(e.g., a network address translation (NAT) router), and/or any othercomponent used to provide subnet functionality. For example, because ofthe network access system 150, the user supersystem 100 may operate inthe context of a local network. As used herein, “local network,” “usernetwork,” “home network,” and similar phraseology is used broadly andinterchangeably to include any type of subnet, like a local area network(LAN). It is understood that different types of local networks may beused in various embodiments without departing from the scope of theinvention. For example, different local networks may operate usingdifferent protocols, different types of security, differentarchitectures or topologies, etc.

In various embodiments, the tablet system 120, the handset system 130,and/or the base station system 110 are configured to provide interactivecommunications services to the client subsystems 140 within the localnetwork. For example, the tablet system 120 and the handset system 130may provide a user with communications functionality for interactingwith a public network (e.g., the Internet), with the provider network160 (e.g., for various provider services, like cloud storage andapplication serving), with other devices on the local network (e.g.,computers, smart appliances, baby monitors, networked televisions,etc.), etc. Further, as described more fully below, the interactivecommunications functionality may include integrations between the tabletsystem 120 and the handset system 130 (e.g., application hand-offs andintegrations, off-loading, etc.). The various features of the usersupersystem 100 are implemented through its various componentsystems—the base station system 110, the tablet system 120, and thehandset system 130. Each of these components systems will be describedin turn.

Embodiments of the base station system 110 are configured with differenttypes of functionality. In some embodiments, the base station system 110is configured as a base for mounting one or both of the tablet system120 and the handset system 130. For example, a tablet interface region125 and a handset interface region 135 may be configured to physicallyreceive a portion of the tablet system 120 and handset system 130,respectively (e.g., for docking). In another embodiment, the basestation system 110 is configured as a special-purpose mount forinterfacing the tablet system 120 and/or the handset system 130 with afixture or other element (as an under-cabinet mount).

According to other embodiments, the base station system 110 includescharging functionality for charging the tablet system 120 and/or thehandset system 130. For example, the charging may be contactless (e.g.,by induction) or by physical ports and/or cables configured to interfacewith cables and/or ports on the respective tablet system 120 or handsetsystem 130. According to still other embodiments, the base stationsystem 110 includes communications functionality. Embodiments of thebase station system 110 may be configured to provide the functionalityof a wireless fidelity (WiFi) hotspot, a wireless repeater, a networkhub, a network router (e.g., with or without network address translation(NAT) functionality), a picocell or femtocell, etc. For example, asshown, the base station system 110 may include a network interfaceregion 115 for interfacing with the network access system 150. Certainembodiments may provide interactive communications between the providernetwork 160 (e.g., and/or other networks) and the client subsystems 140(e.g., via the tablet interface region 125 and the handset interfaceregion 135). These and other functions of the base station system 110will be described more fully below (e.g., with reference to FIG. 4).

Other functionality of the user supersystem 100 is provided by thetablet system 120, the handset system 130, and/or their respectiveclient subsystems 140. Embodiments of the tablet system 120 aretypically implemented substantially as a tablet computing environment.The tablet system 120 may include a large display. The display may beactive or passive; responsive to touch by a finger, stylus, or otherimplement; responsive to remote interactions, etc. Other interactivitymay be provided by voice capture (e.g., audio-to-text translation,direct voice recording, etc.), by motion capture (e.g., gestures, etc.),and or in any other useful way.

In some embodiments, the tablet system 120 includes additionalinput/output components or features. Embodiments include a still and/orvideo capture device (e.g., a digital video camera), an integratedspeaker, and/or ports (e.g., physical and/or logical) for interfacingwith peripheral devices. For example, the tablet system 120 may beconfigured to interface with peripheral cameras, keyboards, printers,scanners, sensors, etc. In certain embodiments, the tablet system 120interfaces with one or more peripherals via the base station system 110.For example, the base station system 110 may include a USB hub or aBluetooth receiver, by which the tablet system 120 interfaces with acompatible keyboard.

In some embodiment, a digital video camera is integrated within thechassis of the tablet system 120, such that it can be pointed in variousdirections. In one embodiment, the camera swivels to point either in adirection substantially normal to the display (e.g., typically towardthe primary user of the tablet system 120) or in an opposite direction(e.g., typically away from the primary user of the tablet system 120).Video captured by the camera may also be displayed substantially in realtime on the display.

For example, suppose a first user employs the tablet system 120 to placea video call with a second user to show off a new home renovation. Thefirst user may be able to see both the first user's camera input and thesecond user's camera input (e.g., as picture-in-picture, side-by-side,etc.) on the first user's display. By pointing the camera in a directionopposite the display and walking around the renovation with the tabletsystem 120, the first user may see both what the second user is seeing(i.e., the new renovation video capture) and the second user's reactionon the same display at the same time.

Embodiments of the handset system 130 provide various types offunctionality, some similar to that of the tablet system 120. Thehandset system 130 may typically be implemented in a physical formatsimilar to that of a cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA),remote control, etc. (i.e., portable and ergonomic). The handset system130 may be configured to receive user interactions through various typesof controls. For example, some or all of the controls may be implementedas soft controls through a touch screen, additional controls may beimplemented as hard buttons, etc. In certain embodiments, the handsetsystem 130 includes a camera. In one embodiment, the camera issubstantially identical to that of the tablet system 120. Of course, thehandset system 130 may include additional components, such asmicrophones and speakers, ports and jacks, etc.

Notably, as described more fully below, embodiments of the tablet system120 and the handset system 130 are designed and configured to provide anintegrated experience. Using the example above, suppose a first user hasemployed the tablet system 120 to place a video call with a second userto show off a new home renovation. During the call, the first userdecides that it would be more convenient to walk around with the handsetsystem 130. The first user may pick up the handset system 130 andcontinue the call (e.g., substantially seamlessly hand off the videocall from the tablet system 120 to the handset system 130). In oneembodiment, the tablet system 120 and/or the handset system 130 maydisplay a soft button (e.g., “send to handset”) to execute the hand-off.In another embodiment, removing the handset system 130 from the basestation system 110 may automatically initiate the hand-off. In anotherembodiment, moving the handset system 130 out of direct proximity to thetablet system 120 (e.g., separating them by more than eighteen inches)may automatically initiate the hand-off.

While the tablet system 120 and the handset system 130 are describedabove with reference to certain hardware components (e.g., cameras,displays, etc.), it will be appreciated that much of the functionalityof those systems is in fact implemented by their respective clientsubsystems 140. In various embodiments, each client subsystem 140 may bea “hard” client subsystem 140, a “soft” client subsystem 140, or somecombination. For example, the client subsystem 140 may be implemented,in whole or in part, in hardware. Thus, it may include one or moreApplication Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) adapted to perform asubset of the applicable functions in hardware. Alternatively, thefunctions may be performed by one or more other processing units (orcores), on one or more integrated circuits (ICs). In other embodiments,other types of integrated circuits may be used (e.g.,Structured/Platform ASICs, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), andother Semi-Custom ICs), which may be programmed. Each may also beimplemented, in whole or in part, with instructions embodied in acomputer-readable medium, formatted to be executed by one or moregeneral or application specific controllers.

In some embodiments, as illustrated by the dashed line between clientsubsystems 140, there may be communications between the clientsubsystems 140. In some embodiments, the communications are directbetween components of the client subsystems 140 themselves. In otherembodiments, the communications are routed through components of thetablet system 120 and the handset system 130. In still otherembodiments, the communications are routed through components of thebase station system 110. And in other embodiments, the communicationsare routed through one or more other components of the local network,for example, the network access system 150.

It will be appreciated that many types of user supersystem 100 arepossible with many types and/or numbers of component systems. For thesake of illustration, some of these alternate embodiments are describedwith reference to FIGS. 1B and 1C. For example, in some embodiments, thebase station system 110 does not provide any communicationsfunctionality. FIG. 1B shows a simplified block diagram of anotherillustrative user supersystem 100 in communication with a providernetwork 160, where the base station system 110 provides little or nocommunications functionality, according to various embodiments.

As in FIG. 1A, the user supersystem 100 includes a base station system110, a tablet system 120, and a handset system 130. Each of the tabletsystem 120 and the handset system 130 includes a client subsystem 140.In the embodiment of FIG. 1B, however, the network access system 150 isillustrated as being in direct communication with the tablet system 120and the handset system 130, and not through the base station system 110.For example, each of the tablet system 120 and the handset system 130,and/or their respective client subsystems 140, may be configured tocommunicate directly with the local network (e.g., with the networkaccess system 150.

It is worth noting that, where the base station system 110 does notprovide communications functionality, there may be no need for a networkinterface region 115. Further, there may be no need to providecommunications via the tablet interface region 125 or the handsetinterface region 135. For example, unlike in the embodiment of FIG. 1A,there may be no physical and/or logical (e.g., unwired) communicationspath between the base station system 110 and the tablet system 120 orthe handset system 130 via the tablet interface region 125 or thehandset interface region 135, respectively. Still, interface regions ofthe base station system 110 may provide various types of mountingfunctionality, charging functionality, etc., for example, as describedabove.

FIG. 1C shows a simplified block diagram of yet another illustrativeuser supersystem 100 in communication with a provider network 160, wherethe base station system 110 physically interfaces only with the tabletsystem 120, and where certain standard tablet system 120 and handsetsystem 130 components are used, according to various embodiments. Again,as in FIG. 1A, the user supersystem 100 includes a base station system110, a tablet system 120, and a handset system 130, and each of thetablet system 120 and the handset system 130 includes a client subsystem140.

As illustrated, the tablet system 120 may be implemented as a standard(e.g., multi-purpose, undedicated) laptop or tablet computingenvironment, and the handset system 130 may be implemented as a standardsmart phone environment. The client subsystems 140 are also shown asclient applications. For example, some functionality of the clientsubsystem 140 b shown as part of the handset system 130 of FIG. 1A maybe implemented as an application running on a standard smart phone. Inalternate embodiments, a dedicated handset system 130 (e.g., as shown inFIG. 1A) may be used with a standard tablet system 120 (e.g., as shownin FIG. 1C), or a standard handset system 130 (e.g., as shown in FIG.1C) may be used with a dedicated tablet system 120 (e.g., as shown inFIG. 1A).

Other types of base station system 110 may be used as well, according tovarious embodiments. For example, as illustrated, the base stationsystem 110 may be configured to physically interface with (e.g., providedocking for) the handset system 130 via a handset interface region 135,and to provide communications with the tablet system 120 via the tabletinterface region 125 (e.g., by a wired or unwired communications path).

Further, the user supersystem 100 may interface with the local networkin various ways. As illustrated, the base station system 110 is incommunication with the network access system 150, the tablet system 120is shown in communication both with the base station system 110 and withthe network access system 150, and the handset system 130 is shown incommunication only with the base station system 110. Of course, inalternate embodiments, the base station system 110 may not be incommunication with the local network (e.g., as described with referenceto FIG. 1B), the handset system 130 may have a direct communicationspath to the network access system 150, etc.

While each of the illustrative embodiments shown in FIGS. 1A-1C shows asingle user supersystem 100 alone in its local network, usersupersystems 100 may operate in the context of other devices in a localnetwork. FIG. 2 shows a communications system 200 that includes a usernetwork 250 having multiple clients, according to various embodiments.As illustrated, the user network 250 includes a user supersystem 100 andother devices in communication with a provider network 160 via a networkaccess system 150.

It will be appreciated that many types of provider network 160 arepossible. For example, the provider network 160 may include a cable,direct subscriber line (DSL), satellite, and/or other type of networktopology. Further, different types of provider networks 160 may includedifferent topologies or architectures between portions of the providernetwork 160 and between other networks, such as the Internet.

For example, according to one type of network topology, access networksfrom individual customers are aggregated in one or more locations withinthe provider network 160 (e.g., apartment access networks maybeaggregated at a building level, again at a neighborhood level, again ata service area level, etc.), with various aggregated regions beingserviced by one or more main provider locations (e.g., central offices).At those or other locations, the provider network 160 may interface withother networks, for example, through various types of peeringrelationships, etc. Typically, non-customers may interface withcustomers in the provider network 160 through the public network.

As such, different types of network architectures and topologies may beused with various embodiments, such that different types of componentsmay be required and/or desired at a user's premises to interface with anaccess portion of the provider network 160. For example, various typesof receivers, ports, modems, etc. may be used at the user premises tointerface the user's user network 250 with the provider network 160. Theinterface between the user network 250 and the provider network 160 maybe implemented by components of the network access system 150.

In one embodiment, the network access system 150 includes a NID 244 anda user router 242. The NID 244 may include some or all of the componentsused to interface the user's access portion of the provider network 260(e.g., the phone line, cable, fiber, etc. going to the user's home) withthe user's premises. The NID 244 may be mounted internal or external tothe user's premises (e.g., or some combination), and may include regionsthat are restricted to the user (e.g., accessible only to a serviceprovider). In various embodiments, the NID 244 may provide various typesof functionality, including network address translation, switching,routing, filtering, serving (e.g., using a micro-server), storage,cooling, monitoring, etc.

In embodiments where the NID 244 does not include a router or whereadditional routing is desired, the network access system 150 may furtherinclude the user router 242. The user router 242 may include a networkaddress translator (NAT) router, a port address translation (PAT)device, a single-address NAT, a port-level multiplexed NAT, a static ordynamic NAT, a firewall, etc. The router may be particularly usefulwhere multiple devices within the user network 250 are being used tocommunicate outside the user network 250, as in FIG. 2.

Regardless of the particulars of the provider network 160 and thenetwork access system 150, the result may be manifest as a local usernetwork 250. For example, the network access system 150 may include anycomponents or functionality desired to provide services from theprovider network 160 to the user network 250 and/or among the deviceswithin the user network 250, such that the user network 250 operates asa subnet.

As illustrated, the user network 250 may include a user supersystem 100,an additional base station system 110 n, and one or more other customerpremises equipment (CPE) devices 265. For example, the CPE devices 265may include computer systems (e.g., laptops, personal computers, tabletcomputers, etc.), television equipment (e.g., networked orInternet-enabled television sets, set-top boxes, etc.), smart phones,smart appliances (e.g., networked lighting, refrigerators, waterheaters, etc.), sensor equipment (e.g., smoke or radon alarms,thermostats, baby monitors, etc.), etc. Of course, any other types ornumbers of devices or systems may be included in the user network 250.Each of these devices or systems may be in direct or indirectcommunication with the network access system 150 (e.g., via the userrouter 242).

Multiple base station systems 110 may be used in a topology, like theone illustrated in FIG. 2, to provide certain enhanced functionality. Asdescribed above, the base station systems 110 may be configured toprovide certain types of communications functionality. For example, thebase station systems 110 may act as Wi-Fi hotspots or repeaters. Whenthere are multiple base station systems 110 in the user network 250, theclient subsystems 140 may be configured to interface with the basestation system 110 having the strongest signal (e.g., or the closestbase station system 110, the base station system 110 having certainfunctionality, etc.).

It will be appreciated that these and/or other techniques may be used toprovide a substantially ubiquitous unwired connectivity experiencethroughout the user's premises. Notably, changes in signal integrity mayaffect apparent latency, error rates, bandwidth, and/or otherconnectivity conditions. For example, as a home user moves between roomor floors, and even external to the home within some range, it may bedesirable for the user to experience a substantially consistentconnectivity experience.

For example, the user supersystem 100 is illustrated as including twoclient subsystems 140 in communication with each other and with a firstbase station system 110 a. If one or both of the client subsystems 140is moved out of operational range of the first base station system 110 aand into operational range of a second base station system 110 n, theone or both client subsystems 140 may automatically switch to being incommunication with the second base station system 110 n. Accordingly,the user supersystem 100 definition may dynamically update to capturechanges in topology.

For the sake of illustration, a customer calls a fabric seller toinquire about a particular fabric. A video session is initiated,beginning with the fabric seller sitting at her desk in front of thetablet system 120 of her user supersystem 100 (e.g., acting as a firstclient subsystem 140 a). She desires to show the customer the requestedfabric, while also illustrating the breadth of her fabric stock and theattractiveness of her storefront to entice the customer to visit inperson. To this end, she seamlessly hands the video session off to herhandset system 130 (e.g., acting as a second client subsystem 140 b) andvirtually walks the customer (i.e., via real-time video capture) throughthe store to the location of the requested fabric, all the whileremotely watching the customer's reaction on the handset system 130display. The requested fabric is located on the second floor of thestore, far from the base station system 110 (e.g., which may becollocated with the tablet system 120). However, the fabric seller hasan additional base station system 110 configured as a repeater on thesecond floor for boosting the signal in that area of the store (e.g.,for when the handset system 130 is in proximity). As such, she is ableto maintain a high quality, real-time video stream with her customerthroughout the communications session.

It will be appreciated that other types of integrations are possible ina user network 250, like the one illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, asdescribed above, the client subsystems 140 may interact and/or beintegrated with each other. Further, in certain embodiments, the clientsubsystems 140 may be configured to interface with one or more other CPEdevices 265. For example, the tablet system 120 may be configured todisplay a monitor of current energy use by smart appliances in the home,to remotely control lights and/or other devices in the home, to monitora closed caption video feed (e.g., from a security system), etc. Thesetypes of integrations may be implemented by direct communication links,through one or more base station systems 110, through components of thenetwork access system 150, through other devices in the user network250, etc.

Of course, it may be desirable for devices or systems in one usernetwork 250 to interface with devices or systems in another user network250. Each of the illustrative embodiments shown in FIGS. 1A-1C showsonly a single user supersystem 100, and the embodiment of FIG. 2 showsonly a single user network 250. However, user supersystems 100 maytypically operate in the context of a larger communications systemhaving multiple users with multiple user networks 250, each havingmultiple devices and systems.

FIG. 3 shows a communications system 300 that includes multiple usernetworks 250, according to various embodiments. As illustrated, the usernetwork 250 includes a user supersystem 100 in communication with acommon provider network 160 via a network access system 150. Notably, afirst user network 250 a is associated with a first customer (“CustomerA”) of the service provider associated with the provider network 160, asecond user network 250 b is associated with a second customer(“Customer B”) of the service provider, and a third user network 250 cis associated with a user that is not a customer of the service provider(“Non-Customer”).

As described above, in some network topologies, customers may be insubstantially direct communication with the provider network 160, whilenon-customers may have access to the provider network 160 only throughthe public network 310 (e.g., the Internet). In certain embodiments, thecommunications to and from the respective network access systems 150 aresubstantially the same, regardless of whether the user network 250 isassociated with a customer. In other embodiments, certain additional oralternate functionality is available to customers. For example, when theservice provider has less or no control over the access network to auser (e.g., for non-customers), provision of certain services may bedifficult, impractical, or impossible (e.g., provision of certainservices may be to slow, too costly, etc. when offered through thepublic network). In still other embodiments, various types ofrelationships (e.g., peering relationships, content delivery ormirroring relationships, etc.) may be used to provide similar servicesto both customers and non-customers.

Typically, services are provided by the service provider from theprovider network 160. As illustrated, the provider network 160 may bedescribed in terms of a number of functional blocks. For example, theprovider network 160 may include a network interface system 364, asecurity system 368, an authentication system 372, a session managementsystem 376, a storage system 380, a back-end voice network 385, and aback-end services framework 390. Notably, these functional blocks may,in fact, be collocated or distributed, implemented in one or morecomponents or systems, implemented in hardware or software, etc.,according to various embodiments. As such, descriptions of functionalityof the provider network 160 in this context is intended to add clarityto the description and should not be construed as limiting the scope ofembodiments.

In some embodiments, communications to and from various user networks250 (e.g., via their respective network access systems 150) interfacewith the provider network 160 at the network interface system 364.Embodiments of the network interface system 364 may include any type ofcomponents, subsystems, etc. for interfacing with the user accessnetworks, with the public network 310, and/or with additional networks(e.g., content delivery networks (CDNs), back-haul networks, peernetworks, proprietary networks, etc.). For example, the networkinterface system 364 may include and handle various ports andconnections, implement signal processing functions (e.g., modulationsand demodulations), implement protocol handling, etc.

In some embodiments, communications are further handled by the securitysystem 368. For example, it may be desirable for functionality of thenetwork interface system 364 to be enhanced with logical security (e.g.,firewalls, encryption, etc.) and/or with physical security (e.g., lockedservers, etc.). Notably, functionality of the security system 368 may befurther applied to other systems of the provider network 160. Forexample, physical and/or logical security may be applied to some or allof the authentication system 372, storage system 380, etc.

In addition to the types of security provided by the security system368, other types of user (e.g., or device, system, network, etc.)authentication may be desired. Embodiments of the authentication system372 are used for authorization, authentication, accounting,registration, and/or other similar functionality. For example, theauthentication system 372 may include functionality of an“Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting” (AAA) server, a “RemoteAuthentication Dial In User Service” (RADIUS), etc. In one embodiment,the network interface system 364 implements a Network Access Server(NAS) in communication with a RADIUS server implemented by theauthentication system 372.

In other embodiments, the authentication system 372 may be used toperform other types of authentication and registration. In oneembodiment, new devices in a user network 250 may send a registrationrequest to the authentication system 372, which may keep track of and/orauthorize user devices. In another embodiment, individual communicationssessions are authorized, registered, etc. by the authentication system372. In still another embodiment, the authentication system 372 handlesauthentication credentials of non-customers (e.g., using cookies, etc.),content providers, etc. In yet other embodiments, the authenticationsystem 372 handles additional accounting functions, such as usagetracking against fair access policies (FAPs), etc.

As discussed above, embodiments of the user supersystems 100 provideinteractive communications functionality via client subsystems 140. Insome embodiments, certain functionality is provided in the context ofcommunication sessions. For example, session streams may be used tomanage large numbers of simultaneous communications transactionsoccurring over the communications network 300 (e.g., chat sessions,voice or video calls, messaging, content delivery, etc.). In someembodiments, these session streams are handled by the session managementsystem 376.

Embodiments of the session management system 376 may manage session invarious ways, depending on the type of session. For example, certainembodiments may manage and/or contribute to classifications of serviceflows as unicast, multicast, broadcast, simulcast, etc. As such, thesession management system 376 may be configured to assign and managesession identifiers, handle session persistence, handle session protocolusage, etc. In some embodiments, the session management system 376implements the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for some or all of thesession streams. For example, SIP may be used by the session managementsystem 376 as a signaling protocol, for handling multi-usercommunications, including streaming media, voice or video calls (e.g.,voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calls), instant messaging, real-timegaming, etc.

It will be appreciated that the network interface system 364, securitysystem 368, authentication system 372, session management system 376,and/or other functional blocks of the provider network 160 mayeffectively provide various front-end types of functionality. Forexample, services delivered to the users may be provided by back-endsystems, other content sources, etc. The front-end functional blocksdescribed my, thus, effectively mediate provision of those services tousers via their respective client subsystems 140.

As illustrated, back-end functionality may be provided by the back-endvoice network 385, the back-end services framework 390, and the storagesystem 380. For example, voice calls and certain data flows may behandled by the back-end voice network 385. Embodiments of the back-endvoice network 385 may include the plain old telephone service (POTS)network and/or other voice networks, such as packet-switched networks(e.g., via fiber-optic networks, DSL networks, etc.).

Embodiments of the back-end services framework 390 include and/orinterface with all other service provision of the provider network 160.In some embodiments, the back-end services framework 390 providesintegrated messaging functionality. For example, different types ofmessaging capabilities may be provided between user supersystems 100,between different client subsystems 140, from a user supersystem 100 toother user devices inside or outside of the user network 250, etc. Themessaging functionality may include e-mail messaging, Short MessageService (SMS) messaging, video messaging, etc.

The back-end services framework 390 may also provide various cloudcomputing and/or content serving functionality. For example, in certainembodiments, the storage system 380 includes a storage area network(SAN) within the provider network 160. In other embodiments, the storagesystem 380 includes, or is in communication with, data storage (e.g.,servers) over external networks. For example, the storage system 380 mayinclude third-party storage offered over the Internet. The back-endservices framework 390 may use the storage system 380 to providefunctionality, including, for example, content mirroring, applicationserving, and cloud-based address books, photo albums, calendars, etc.

It will be appreciated that other functionality may be provided byembodiments of the back-end services framework 390 and/or othercomponents of the provider network 160. Of course, much of thefunctionality described with reference to components of the providernetwork 160 may related to (e.g., rely on, be further integrated with,be enhanced by, etc.) components of the user supersystem 100. For thesake of additional clarity, embodiments of some functional components ofillustrative base station systems 110 and client subsystems 140 aredescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.

FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of a base station system 110 inthe context of certain other devices and systems, according to variousembodiments. For example, embodiments of the base station system 110 maybe implemented substantially as described with reference to FIG. 1A. Forthe sake of clarity and to add context to the description, the basestation system 110 is shown in communication with a first clientsubsystem 140 a, a second client subsystem 140 b, and a network accesssystem 150 via a tablet interface region 125, a handset interface region135, and a network interface region 115, respectively. It will beappreciated from the descriptions above that many other arrangements arepossible according to other embodiments. As such, the context should notbe construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments.

Many functions of embodiments of the base station system 110 areprovided by various functional blocks. As illustrated the functionalblocks may include one or more client interface subsystems 410, acharging subsystem 420, a power subsystem 430, a communicationssubsystem 440, a processing subsystem 450, and a storage subsystem 560.For example, embodiments of the client interface subsystems 410 areconfigured to interface with one or more of the client subsystems 140,physically and/or logically.

In some embodiments, the client interface subsystems 410 of the basestation system 110 include physical features for mounting one or both ofthe tablet system 120 and the handset system 130. For example, theclient interface subsystems 410 include the tablet interface region 125and handset interface region 135, configured to physically receive aportion of the tablet system 120 and handset system 130, respectively.In one embodiment, the physical receiving is used to provide dockingfunctionality for one or more client subsystems 140.

In other embodiments, the client interface subsystems 410 includemounting features designed to removably couple the base station system110 with the tablet system 120, for example, so that the otherwiseportable tablet system 120 remains in place for certain uses. As oneexample, the tablet system 120 includes a touch screen for use intyping, drawing, dragging, and/or other types of user interactivity.Using the base station system 110 to secure the tablet system 120 whiletyping, etc. may improve the user experience.

In still other embodiments, the client interface subsystems 410 includefeature that configure the base station system 110 as a special-purposemount for interfacing the tablet system 120 and/or the handset system130 with a fixture or other element. For example, embodiments of thebase station system 110 may provide under-cabinet mounting functionalityfor use in a kitchen, so that the tablet system 120 can be swung downfrom under the kitchen cabinets when in use and swung out of the wayotherwise.

In even other embodiments, the client interface subsystems 410 providesupport for functionality of other components. For example, chargingfunctionality of the charging subsystem 420 and/or communicationsfunctionality of the communications subsystem 440 may be implemented inpart through features of the client interface subsystems 410.

Embodiments of the base station system 110 include the chargingsubsystem 420, configured to provide charging functionality for chargingone or more client subsystems 140 or their associated devices (e.g., thetablet system 120 and/or the handset system 130 of FIG. 1A). In certainembodiments, the charging is contactless (e.g., by induction). Incertain other embodiments, the charging functionality is provided byphysical ports and/or cables configured to interface with cables and/orports on the respective devices (e.g., the tablet system 120, handsetsystem 130, etc.). These charging functions may use features of theclient interface subsystems 410.

For example, in one embodiment, a handset system 130 in which one clientsubsystem 140 b is implemented includes two conductive contacts and amagnetic element in proximity to the bottom of its chassis. Thecorresponding client interface subsystem 410 b of the base stationsystem 110 similarly includes two conductive contacts and a magneticelement as part of the handset interface region 135. When the handsetsystem 130 is coupled with the base station system 110, the magneticelements hold the handset system 130 in place while the conductivecontacts facilitate the flow of charging current to the handset system130, as managed by the charging subsystem 420. In some embodiments, thecharging functionality of the charging subsystem 420 is enhanced in oneor more ways. For example, the base station system 110 may providefunctionality for charge monitoring, error detection, battery failure,quick charging, etc.

Of course, embodiments of the charging subsystem 420 may require asource of power from which to provide charging current. In someembodiments, the charging subsystem 420 is coupled with the powersubsystem 430. Some embodiments of the power subsystem 430 may simplyprovide an interface between the base station system 110 and a powersource (e.g., a wall outlet). Other embodiments of the power subsystem430 include additional functionality. For example, the power subsystem430 may process (e.g., clean, convert, regulate, step up or step down,etc.) the input power, monitor and/or regulate power consumption of thebase station system 110 and/or other devices, provide different levelsfor different functions (e.g., provide constant output current to thecharging subsystem 420, low-voltage output to internal circuitry of thebase station system 110, regulated power to a cooling fan, etc.), etc.

As described above, some embodiments of the base station system 110include the communications subsystem 440 for providing certaincommunications functionality. In various embodiments, the base stationsystem 110 is configured (using functionality of the communicationssubsystem 440) to act as a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) hotspot, a wirelessrepeater, a network hub, a network router (e.g., with or without networkaddress translation (NAT) functionality), a picocell or femtocell, etc.For example, as shown, the communications subsystem 440 may include thenetwork interface region 115 for interfacing with the network accesssystem 150.

In one embodiment, the network interface region 115 includes a physicalport for plugging into a network (e.g., an Ethernet port). In anotherembodiment, the network interface region 115 includes an unwired (e.g.,wireless, cellular, etc.) receiver for interfacing with a local networkvia the network access system 150. The network interface region 115 mayalso include one or more logical ports, antennae, and/or any otheruseful network interface component. In certain embodiments, the networkaccess system 150 is implemented within a chassis of the base stationsystem 110, such that connections with the network access system 150 areinternal to the base station system 110, and may or may not includephysical connections (e.g., the connections may be logical or functionalconnections between functional components or modules).

Certain embodiments of the communications subsystem 440 provideinteractive communications functionality (e.g., from other devices, theuser network, the provider network, and/or other networks) to the clientsubsystems 140. For example, the communications subsystem 440 may becoupled with the client interface subsystems 410 such thatcommunications services may be provided via the tablet interface region125 and the handset interface region 135. Alternately, thecommunications subsystem 440 may include additional transceivers,logical ports, etc. For example, embodiments of the communicationssubsystem 440 may include Bluetooth communications components, USB hubs,radio antennae, etc.

In various embodiments of the base station system 110, functionality ofthe various functional blocks is supported by one or more of theprocessing subsystem 450 and the storage subsystem 460. For example,embodiments of the processing subsystem 450 include a central processingunit and/or dedicated processors (e.g., communications processors,graphics processors, etc.). Embodiments of the storage subsystem 460 mayinclude a hard disk drive, a flash drive, a micro server, a dataprocessing engine, and/or any other useful storage and/or datamanagement components.

It will be appreciated that various embodiments of the base stationsystem 110 may include only some of the functional blocks shown in FIG.4 and, accordingly, only some of the functionality described above.Further, in some embodiments, the functionality of the base stationsystem 110 is integrated into a single chassis. In other embodiments,certain functionality may be offloaded to peripheral devices (e.g., aUSB storage drive as part of the storage subsystem 460, or an externalsignal booster as part of the communications subsystem 440) ordistributed among multiple components. In still other embodiments, thechassis of the base station system 110 includes additional or alternatefeatures. For example, the chassis may include various device interfaces(e.g., recesses, locks, ports, plugs, etc.), controls (e.g., buttons,switches, etc.), physical features (e.g., cooling fins, rubberized feet,etc.), etc.

It will be further appreciated that much of the functionality describedabove with reference to the base station system 110, and additionalfunctionality of embodiments of user supersystems 100, may beimplemented by the client subsystems 140. FIG. 5 shows a functionalblock diagram of a client subsystem 140 a in the context of certainother devices and systems, according to various embodiments. Forexample, embodiments of the client subsystem 140 a may be implementedsubstantially as described with reference to FIG. 1A. For the sake ofclarity and to add context to the description, the client subsystem 140a is shown in communication with a network access system 150, a basestation system 110 and one or more peripheral devices 570. The basestation system 110 is shown in communication with the client subsystem140 a, another client subsystem 140 b, and the network access system150, via a tablet interface region 125, a handset interface region 135,and a network interface region 115, respectively.

It will be appreciated from the descriptions above that many otherarrangements are possible according to other embodiments. As such, thecontext should not be construed as limiting the scope of theembodiments. For example, while the description will focus on clientsubsystem 140 a, the same or different functional blocks may be includedin client subsystem 140 b. Notably, the client subsystem 140 a isintended to broadly show illustrative functionality of a clientsubsystem 140, whether part of a dedicated device system (e.g., like thetablet system 120 or the handset system 130 of FIG. 1A), part of anundedicated device system (e.g., like the tablet system 120 or thehandset system 130 of FIG. 1C), etc.

Embodiments of the client subsystem 140 a may implement variousfunctionality through functional blocks. As illustrated, the functionalblocks may include a device interface module 510, one or more interfaceregions 515, a processing module 520, a power module 530, acommunications module 540, a user interface module 550, a video module552, an audio module 554, an applications module 560, and a storagemodule 580. As described above, embodiments of the client subsystem 140a may be incorporated within a device chassis.

Embodiments of the device interface module 510 are configured to providean interface between the client subsystem 140 (e.g., or its respectivedevice chassis) and either the base station system 110, a peripheraldevice 570, or some other device or component. For example, embodimentsof the device interface module 510 may functionally correspond toembodiments of a client interface subsystem 410 of a base station system110, as described with reference to FIG. 4.

In some embodiments, the device interface module 510 may be coupled withinterface regions 515 that provide physical and/or logical components orfeatures to support certain types of interfaces. For example, theinterface regions 515 may include metal contacts (e.g., to facilitatecharging from the base station system 110), a headphone or headset jack(e.g., for audio input/output), various internal ports or slots (e.g.,for a battery, a memory card, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card,etc.), etc. In one embodiment, the interface regions 515 includefeatures for interfacing directly with the base station system 110(e.g., via the tablet interface region 125 or the handset interfaceregion 135). In another embodiment, the interface regions 515 includefeatures for interfacing between the client subsystem 140 a and anotherclient subsystem 140 (e.g., between a handset system 130 and a tabletsystem 120). In yet another embodiment, the interface regions 515 areconfigured to support functionality of the communications module 540, asdescribed more below.

Embodiments of the client subsystem 140 a include a processing module520. The processing module 520 may include a central processor, agraphics processor, an audio processor, and/or any other usefuldedicated or multi-purpose processing components. For example,embodiments of the processing module 520 are designed to supportfunctionality of other functional modules of the client subsystem 140 a.

In some embodiments, the client subsystem 140 a includes a power module530. Embodiments of the power module 530 may deliver power to otherfunctional modules, manage power consumption, process (e.g., clean,regulate, etc.) power, etc. Other functionality of the power module 530may be appreciated in the context of other types of functionality. Forexample, if an external active device is being used, the device may drawpower from the client subsystem 140 a, and that power delivery may becontrolled by the power module 530. In another example, during acharging or discharging cycle of a battery, the power module 530 maycontrol and/or monitor charging or discharging current.

Other embodiments of the client subsystem 140 a include a communicationsmodule 540. Embodiments of the communications module 540 provide varioustypes of communications functionality. For example, as illustrated, thecommunications module 540 may handle communications with the basestation system 110 and/or the network access system 150. In someembodiments, the communications module 540 performs a number ofclient-side functions, such as handling of requests, messaging,communications sessions, proxy functions, etc. In certain embodiments,the communications module 540 uses functionality of the device interfacemodule 510 and/or other functional modules, for example, to managecertain types of communication flows with certain types of other devicesor systems (e.g., for protocol management, demodulation, etc.).

Still other embodiments of the client subsystem 140 a include a userinterface module 550. In some embodiments, the user interface module 550handles inputs and outputs through the video module 552, the audiomodule 554, and/or the peripheral devices 570. For example, embodimentsof the video module 552 include a camera and a display. The display maybe active or passive; responsive to touch by a finger, stylus, or otherimplement; responsive to remote interactions, etc.

Embodiments of the camera include a digital video camera integratedwithin the chassis of the client subsystem 140 a, such that it can bepointed in various directions. In one embodiment, the camera swivels topoint either in a direction substantially normal to the display (e.g.,typically toward the primary user of the tablet system 120) or in anopposite direction (e.g., typically away from the primary user of thetablet system 120). Video captured by the camera may also be displayedsubstantially in real time on the display. The camera may also beconfigured to take still images.

Embodiments of the audio module 554 may include audio input components(e.g., microphones) and audio output devices (e.g., speakers). Inputand/or output functionality of the user interface module 550 may befurther implemented through peripheral devices, such as peripheralcameras, keyboards, printers, scanners, sensors, etc. In certainembodiments, the client subsystem 140 a is configured to interface withone or more input/output devices via the base station system 110. Forexample, the base station system 110 may include a USB hub or aBluetooth receiver, by which the client subsystem 140 a interfaces witha compatible keyboard. Other interactivity may also be provided by voicecapture (e.g., audio-to-text translation, direct voice recording, etc.)through the audio module 554, by motion capture (e.g., gestures, etc.)through the video module 552, and/or in any other useful way.

It will be appreciated that much of the functionality of the variousmodules described above may be designed substantially to supportdelivery of certain applications to a user of the client subsystem 140a. Embodiments of the client subsystem 140 a include an applicationsmodule 560 for handling applications through the client subsystem 140 a.In various embodiments, the applications module 560 uses functionalityof other modules, such as the user interface module 550, the processingmodule 520, and the communications module 540 to implement applicationsfunctions.

Applications delivery by the applications module 560 and/or other typesof functionality of the client subsystem 140 a may be further supportedby local storage through the storage module 580. Embodiments of thestorage module 580 may include disk drives, flash drives, and/or otherdata storage and processing components. In certain embodiments, thestorage module 580 is configured to integrate functionally with externalstorage, for example, in the base station system 110 or in the “cloud”(e.g., offered via the Internet, the provider network, etc.).

It will be appreciated that, while many embodiments are described abovewith reference to a user supersystem 100 having two client subsystems140 (e.g., in a tablet system 120 and a handheld system 130), otherconfigurations and topologies are possible. In some embodiments, theuser supersystem 100 includes one tablet system 120 and multiplehandheld systems 130, for example, used throughout a home. In otherembodiments, multiple tablet systems 120 are used as part of the usersupersystem 100. In still other embodiments, other devices (e.g., in thehome) include some or all of the functionality of the client subsystem140 for operation as part of the user supersystem 100. For example, aclient subsystem 140 may be implemented as part of an alarm clock,weather station, television set-top box, laptop computer, etc.

It will further be appreciated that various embodiments of clientsubsystems 140 may include only some of the functional blocks (oradditional functional blocks to those) shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly,other embodiments may include only some of the functionality describedabove or different functionality from that described above. Further, itwill be appreciated that some or all of the functionality of the clientsubsystems 140, and also some or all of the functionality of the basestation system 110, may be implemented by a computational system. Forexample, dedicated and/or multi-purpose hardware and/or software may beused to implement many of the functions described with reference toFIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 6 shows a simplified block diagram of an illustrative computationalsystem 600 for use in implementing components of various embodiments.For example, components of the computational system 800 may be used toimplement functionality of the base station system 110 or the clientsubsystem 140 (e.g., or the associated tablet system 120 or handsetsystem 130). It should be noted that FIG. 6 is meant only to provide ageneralized illustration of various components, any or all of which maybe utilized as appropriate. FIG. 6, therefore, broadly illustrates howindividual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separatedor relatively more integrated manner.

The computational system 600 is shown to include hardware elements thatcan be electrically coupled via a bus 605 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements can include one ormore processors 610, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration chips,and/or the like); one or more input devices 615, which can includewithout limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and one or moreoutput devices 620, which can include without limitation a displaydevice, a printer and/or the like.

The computational system 600 may further include (and/or be incommunication with) one or more storage devices 625, which can include,without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage and/or caninclude, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an opticalstorage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a random accessmemory (“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable and/or the like. The computational system600 might also include a communications subsystem 630, which can includewithout limitation a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), aninfrared communication device, a wireless communication device and/orchipset (such as a Bluetooth device, an 602.11 device, a WiFi device, aWiMax device, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or the like.The communications subsystem 630 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork (such as the network described below, to name one example),and/or any other devices described herein. In many embodiments, thecomputational system 600 will further include a working memory 635,which can include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computational system 600 also can include software elements, shownas being currently located within the working memory 635, including anoperating system 640 and/or other code, such as one or more applicationprograms 645, which may include computer programs of the invention,and/or may be designed to implement methods of the invention and/orconfigure systems of the invention, as described herein. Merely by wayof example, one or more procedures described with respect to themethod(s) discussed above might be implemented as code and/orinstructions executable by a computer (and/or a processor within acomputer). A set of these instructions and/or codes might be stored on acomputer-readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 625described above.

In some cases, the storage medium might be incorporated within thecomputational system 600 or in communication with the computationalsystem 600. In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separatefrom a computational system 600 (e.g., a removable medium, such as acompact disc, etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, suchthat the storage medium can be used to program a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputational system 600 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputational system 600 (e.g., using any of a variety of generallyavailable compilers, installation programs, compression/decompressionutilities, etc.) then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

In one aspect, the invention employs the computational system 600 toperform methods of the invention. According to a set of embodiments,some or all of the procedures of such methods are performed by thecomputational system 600 in response to processor 610 executing one ormore sequences of one or more instructions (which might be incorporatedinto the operating system 640 and/or other code, such as an applicationprogram 645) contained in the working memory 635. Such instructions maybe read into the working memory 635 from another machine-readablemedium, such as one or more of the storage device(s) 625. Merely by wayof example, execution of the sequences of instructions contained in theworking memory 635 might cause the processor(s) 610 to perform one ormore procedures of the methods described herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer readable medium”, asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computational system 600, various machine-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)610 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, acomputer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatilemedia includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 625. Volatile media includes, without limitation,dynamic memory, such as the working memory 635. Transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise the bus 605, as well as the various components ofthe communication subsystem 630 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 630 provides communication with other devices).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 610for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computational system 600. Thecommunications subsystem 630 (and/or components thereof) generally willreceive the signals, and the bus 605 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc., carried by the signals) to theworking memory 635, from which the processor(s) 610 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 635 may optionally be stored on a storage device 625 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 610.

Conversation Capture Embodiments

It will be appreciated from the above description that the systems,devices, and methods described above may be used to facilitate manydifferent types of functionality. One type of functionality involvesusing the user supersystem 100 as a communications hub configured tocapture relevant information for enhancing conversations with contacts.This functionality is referred to herein as “conversation capture.”

For example, the tablet system 120 may be used as a graphicalcommunications hub in a family's home, used by the family to communicatewith parties stored as contacts via the hub (e.g., at the hub oraccessible through the hub, for example, via remote storage in the“cloud”). Each contact may be associated with various types ofinformation, including conversation histories, user-generated notes,metadata, etc. This and/or other information can be used to enhanceconversations with those parties through reminders, conversationanchors, etc.

As used herein, the term, “family” (also referred to as a “household”),is intended generally to describe any relatively small group of parties(e.g., individuals, groups, entities, etc.), who may or may not bedirectly related and who tend to share a space (or other closeinterests) and tend to communicate frequently about issues, includingissues affecting the shared space. Similarly, the term, “home,” as usedherein, generally describes the shared space and/or close interests ofthe “family.” In various embodiments, “contacts” may be stored for thefamily and/or for individual members of the family. Each “contact” maygenerally refer to a party (e.g., individual, entity, group, otherfamily, other user supersystem 100, etc.) for which at least one memberof the family has stored associated contact information.

For the sake of clarity, FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a familycommunications environment 700. In various embodiments, the familycommunications environment 700 includes one or more levels of familycommunications hierarchy. For example, as shown, the familycommunications environment 700 may include an “inner circle” 710, an“extended circle” 720, an “outer circle” 740, and “others” 750.

Typically, certain levels of the family communications hierarchy areconsidered to be “in the home,” while others are considered to be“outside the home.” These phrases are intended generally to refer to aparty's relationship with the household, rather than with their actuallocation at any given point in time. An illustrative boundary between“outside the home” and “in the home” parties is shown as dashed regionboundary 730.

For example, while it is not expected that any of the family memberswill spend all their time inside the home premises (e.g., or even asignificant amount of time there), members of the family that live inthe home and/or are directly impacted by home-related or family-relatedissues may be considered to be “in the home.” These parties may beconsidered “in the home” family members, even when they are not, at aparticular moment, physically inside or near the home. These “in thehome” family members may, of course, communicate with many otherparties, who may be considered “outside the home.”

In one embodiment, the “family” is considered to include immediatefamily members living together in a single “home” (e.g., a house,apartment, etc.). As illustrated, this may include only the “innercircle” 710 of “Dad,” “Mom,” “Gaby,” and “Zac.” For example, the “innercircle” 710 may represent the group of parties typically affected by,and possibly participating in, family conversations.

In another embodiment, the family “inner circle” 710 is considered toinclude others. For example, it may be desirable to further includepeople who frequent the “home” into the “inner circle” 710 familyconversations, like a nanny or caregiver, close relative or friend,maid, etc. Alternatively, it may be desirable to include certain partiesin all family conversations as part of the “inner circle” 710, whileincluding others in only a subset of those conversations as part of the“extended circle” 720. In some embodiments, “inner circle” 710conversations and “extended circle” 720 conversations can separately beinitiated, depending on the context of the conversation.

Notably, various types of conversations among family members (e.g.,“inner circle” 710 and/or “extended circle” 720 members) may involve acommunications hub in the home (e.g., the user supersystem 100) and oneor more other devices. These other devices may include mobile devices,which may be located in or out of the home at any particular time. Forexample, some or all of the family members share the user supersystem100 while at home, and some or all of the family members may also haveindividual devices, like cell phones, personal digital assistants(PDAs), etc. In some cases, each of the various devices may send and/orreceive messages over different communications channels (e.g.,communications networks, protocols, formats, etc.).

In some embodiments, rather than treating the “extended circle” 720 aspart of the “family” and participating in certain family conversations,other techniques are used to contact those parties. For example,asynchronous group messaging may be used to contact all the affectedparties as a group. Similarly, various types of communications may beused to contact parties considered to be part of the “outer circle” 740or “others” 750. In certain embodiments, the “outer circle” 740 mayinclude those parties that are in an address book associated with theuser supersystem 100, otherwise approved via some technique by one ormore members of the “inner circle” 710, etc.

Embodiments of conversation capture functionality described herein maybe applied to any communications using any component of the usersupersystem 100. Typically, however, conversation capture techniques maybe particularly useful in the context of messaging (e.g., synchronousand/or asynchronous) between “in the home” parties and “outside thehome” parties. For example, the conversation capture functionality mayprovide certain types of conversation reminders and/or anchors that mayhelp contextualize and/or enhance conversations between the family and“outer circle” 740 contacts.

FIG. 8 shows a simplified block diagram of an illustrativecommunications system 800 for providing conversation capturefunctionality, according to various embodiments. The communicationssystem 800 includes a user supersystem 100 that includes a clientsubsystem 140 (e.g., implemented within a tablet system 120, asdescribed above) and a base station system 110, and is in communicationwith the “cloud” 810. As used herein, the “cloud” 810 generally refersto any network through which content and/or services are available. Forexample, the cloud 810 may include the provider network 160, theInternet, content delivery networks (CDNs), etc.

The client subsystem 140 includes a conversation subsystem 905. Asdescribed more fully below with reference to FIGS. 9-13, theconversation subsystem 905 provides conversation capture functionality.In various embodiments, the conversation subsystem 905 presents contactinformation, conversation reminders, conversation anchors, and/or otherinformation in a useful way, for example, to enhance messagingfunctionality with outside parties.

It will be appreciated that, in order to provide useful conversationcapture functionality, it may be desirable to have access to multipletypes of conversation information. In some embodiments, these multipletypes of conversation information are stored in and/or accessible frommultiple locations. For example, as illustrated, some or all of thedesired conversation information may be stored in a local storagesubsystem 580 in communication with the client subsystem 140 (e.g., bothmay be in the same user supersystem 100 component, like the tabletsystem 120), in a storage subsystem 460 of the base station system 110,in a provider network storage system 380 accessible via the cloud 810,in other content sources 815 accessible via the cloud 810, etc. Invarious embodiments, the conversation subsystem 905 may be configured togather conversation information from one or more of these locations.

Of course, any or all of the storage locations illustrated in FIG. 8(e.g., and/or any other useful storage location) may store many types ofinformation that can be used as, or to generate, conversationinformation for use in providing conversation capture functionality.FIG. 9 shows a more detailed block diagram of an illustrative datasystem 900 for providing conversation capture functionality using aconversation subsystem 905, according to various embodiments. Theconversation subsystem 905 is shown as including a conversation capturemodule 910, configured to gather information from multiple sources forgenerating conversation information.

It will be appreciated that any of the information described withreference to FIG. 9 may be stored in any useful location, includingthose described with reference to FIG. 8. Further, it will beappreciated that the types of the conversation information discussedwith reference to FIG. 9 are intended only to be illustrative of somepossible types of conversation information, and other types ofconversation information are possible according to embodiments of theinvention. As such, the descriptions of conversation information areshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

Some embodiments include a contact data store 925. As described above,the contact data store 925 may be located locally and/or remotely to theconversation subsystem 905, and may or may not be distributed amongmultiple data storage locations. As illustrated, the conversation datastore 925 stores address book 920, conversation history 930, and contactnotes 940 information. For example, the data may be stored locally atthe user supersystem 100 (e.g., in one or more component systems), inthe cloud, stored locally and mirrored in the cloud, etc.

Embodiments of the address book 920 information include names,addresses, phone numbers, texting/chatting addresses, email addresses,pictures, and/or any other useful contact information. In someembodiments, the information is substantially static. For example, afterthe address book 920 information is added to the contact data store 925(e.g., input by a family member, ported from another address book,etc.), the address book 920 information remains unchanged until activelyupdated. In other embodiments, some or all of the address book 920information is linked to one or more data sources from which automaticchanges to the address book 920 information may be received. Forexample, a contact may subscribe to a service that maintains updatedcontact information, and the user supersystem 100 may periodically checkthe service for updates.

In certain embodiments, storage may be designated (e.g., in the cloud)that allows synchronization of information across user supersystem 100platforms. For example, certain contact information from one usersupersystem 100 is available to other user supersystems 100. In oneembodiment, when contact info of (e.g., or stored by) one usersupersystem 100 is updated, the information propagates to other usersupersystems 100 (e.g., or those for which the user supersystem 100 withupdated information is in their “inner circle” 710, “extended circle”720, etc.

Embodiments of the contact notes 940 information include any kind ofnotes added to the contact information (e.g., by a member of the family)and stored in the contact data store 925. For example, contact notes mayinclude names and ages of a contact's children, circumstances of meetingthe contact, interesting facts about the contact, a referral source forthe contact, etc. In some embodiments, a service provider may addinformation about a contact (e.g., where the contact is a customer ofthe service provider, where the contact has opted-in, etc.) as part ofthe contact notes 940, or may suggest information to add as part of thecontact notes 940. In one embodiment, a commercial contact may offer toadd certain types of commercial information to the contact notes 940information. For example, a contractor may offer to add a list ofreferrals and example services (e.g., to facilitate searching, etc.).

Embodiments of the conversation history 930 include information aboutprevious exchanges with a contact. In some embodiments, every timecommunications (e.g., synchronous and/or asynchronous) occur involvingthe contact, a record of the communication is stored in the conversationhistory 930 associated with that contact. For example, the conversationhistory 930 may include a timestamp, a record of any text- ormultimedia-based communications, a user-generated record of conversationcontent, an automatically generated record of conversation content(e.g., using speech recognition, etc.), a record of what devices and/ordevice types were involved (e.g., cell phone, video call, text message,etc.), a record of which contact end point(s) were involved (e.g., worknumber, home number, SMS account, etc.), etc.

Conversation history 930 information may be gathered from varioussources of messaging information 935. In some embodiments, theconversation history 930 includes only records of communicationsinvolving the user supersystem 100. In other embodiments, other devicescan be registered to be included in the functionality. For example, afamily member may register her cell phone, so that all cell phonecommunications to and/or from a contact in the address book 920 aresaved to the conversation history 930.

In one embodiment, when a communication occurs with a contact that isnot in the address book 920, the conversation capture module 910 isconfigured to automatically add the contact to the address book 920 orto prompt a user (e.g., the participant in the conversation, some or allfamily members, etc.) to determine whether to add the contact to theaddress book 920. In another embodiment, one or more externalapplications are configured to communicate with the address book 920.For example, a social networking site may be linked to the address book920 so that posts to a contact (e.g., or any other information) are usedto update an address book 920 listing, conversation history 930, etc.

In addition to the conversation information gathered from the contactdata store 925 (e.g., the address book 920, the conversation history930, and the contact notes 940), other types of conversation informationmay be used to enhance the conversation capture functionality. In someembodiments, conversation anchors 950 are generated. Conversationanchors 950 may include any secondary types of information that can beassociated with a contact, either statically or dynamically, to enhancethe conversation with that contact.

Embodiments of the conversation anchors 950 are generated by using datafrom the contact data store 925 effectively as metadata about thecontact. The metadata may then be queried, searched, processed, etc.against one or more anchor sources 955 to generate secondary informationthat may be of interest in relation to the contact. In one embodiment, acontact address is communicated to an Internet service (e.g., the anchorsource 955) to find relevant local weather information, which may thenbe passed to the conversation capture module 910 for output to thedisplay of the user supersystem 100. In another embodiment, theconversation capture module 910 detects that the contact's birthday isapproaching (e.g., according to contact notes 940) and automaticallyaccesses a website (e.g., the anchor source 955) to determine famoushistorical figures sharing the same birthday. It will be appreciatedthat many different types of conversation anchors 950 and anchor sources955 are possible according to various embodiments.

In some embodiments, the various types of conversation information areused by the conversation capture module 910 to provide conversationcapture functionality. In certain embodiments, as described above, theconversation capture module 910 may use the collected conversationinformation to generate additional conversation information (e.g.,secondary, tertiary, etc. information generated by combining andprocessing information from those other information sources). In otherembodiments, the conversation capture module 910 processes theinformation into a form suitable for rendering to a user's display. Forexample, the user may wish to view the conversation capture informationon the display of the tablet system 120 of the user supersystem 100.

FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method 1000 forproviding conversation capture functionality, according to variousembodiments. Embodiments of the method 1000 are described herein withreference to interactions between a family member and the display of thetablet system 120. It will be appreciated, however, that thesedescriptions are intended only to illustrate certain functionality andshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Forexample, it is contemplated that many different types of users mayinteract with many types of devices to utilize the various types ofconversation capture functionality described herein.

In some embodiments, the method 1000 begins at block 1004 by rendering(e.g., displaying) an address book to a user. For example, in oneembodiment, a family member uses the tablet system 120 to accessphone-related functionality, as illustrated by the screenshot of FIG.11. A “Phone” home screen may include information, such as recentcommunications (e.g., incoming and/or outgoing calls and messages),speed dial entries (e.g., illustrated as one-touch photographic icons onthe left side of the display), a phone keypad, etc. As illustrated, an“Address Book” soft button may be included, with which the family membermay interact to access the address book.

Upon accessing the address book, the display may change, for example, tolook similar to the screenshot illustrated in FIG. 12. The address bookmay include a scrollable list of contacts and other controls (e.g., softbuttons for adding new contacts, going back to the “Phone” home screen,etc.). In some embodiments, other controls are available for helpingnavigate through the available contacts. For example, as shown on theleft-hand side of the display, a user may be able to select a letter,and be taken to contacts beginning with that letter. In another example,various types of searching and/or sorting functions (e.g., queries,filters, etc.) may be available through one or more interfaces.

At block 1008 of the method 1000 of FIG. 10, a contact selection may bereceived. For example, turning back to the illustrative screenshot ofFIG. 12, one of the contact listings may be selected by the familymember (e.g., via touch screen interaction). At block 1012, address bookdata associated with the contact may be retrieved, for example, from thecontact data store 925 of FIG. 9. The address book data may include theaddress book 920 and contact notes 940 information described above.

At block 1016, conversation history data associated with the contact maybe retrieved. For example, conversation history 930 information may beretrieved from the contact data store 925, as described above withreference to FIG. 9. In some embodiments, at block 1020, conversationanchors are generated and/or retrieved in association with the contact.For example, the address book data and conversation history dataretrieved in blocks 1012 and 1016, respectively, may be used (e.g.,along with other data) to generate conversation anchors, like theconversation anchors 950 of FIG. 9.

At block 1024, the various types of conversation information areformatted (e.g., gathered and processed) into conversation captureoutput data. The conversation capture output data may then be displayedto a graphical interface at block 1028. In some embodiments, at block1008, the conversation capture output data is rendered to the contactpage and displayed on the tablet system 120.

For the sake of illustration, a contact for “Caitlin Harrison” isselected (e.g., from the address book display shown in FIG. 12), and thedisplay changes, for example, to look similar to the screenshotillustrated in FIG. 13. As illustrated, the contact page may includemany different types of useful information relating to the contact. Forexample, the screenshot shows a photo, a set of speed dial entries(e.g., one-touch phone number dialing, text messaging, etc.), andconversation capture information.

While the conversation capture information may include any of the typesof information described above with reference to FIG. 9, only certaininformation is illustrated for the sake of clarity. The conversationcapture region of the display (at the right-hand side of the screenshot)may include timestamp reference indications (e.g., an indication of thecurrent date, separators between each day, etc.), iconography forindicating different types of conversation capture information (e.g.,different icons for text messages, missed calls, voicemails,conversation anchors, etc.), and the conversation capture informationitself (e.g., sorted in reverse timestamp order). As illustrated, theconversation capture region indicates an outgoing text message withattached photos, a recorded voicemail message, and an incoming textmessage.

Some embodiments provide additional conversation capture functionality.In one embodiment, the address book contacts are associated with certaintypes of calendaring functions. For example, birthdays, anniversaries,etc. are set as reminders (e.g., tasks) for either individual users orfor the family. The conversation capture information may use thatinformation to automatically send a message to the contact, to sendreminders to the family about the event, to indicate upcoming events forcontacts on the address book page, etc. Similarly, the conversationcapture information may be used to indicate one family member'sconversations to other members of the family. For example, if Momalready called cousin Joe to wish him a happy birthday, it may bedesirable to inform the other family members of that call.

In another embodiment, conversation capture information is used toprovide search, query, and/or other related types of functionality. Forexample, if a bad storm hits Kansas, it may be desirable for theconversation capture module 910 of FIG. 9 to automatically generate amessage for the family of all the contacts in the address book who mayhave been affected by the storm. Similarly, sorting contacts bylifecycle events, regional sports or weather events, etc. may bedesirable for enticing users to keep in contact with certain contacts.

While the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerousmodifications are possible. For example, the methods and processesdescribed herein may be implemented using hardware components, softwarecomponents, and/or any combination thereof. Further, while variousmethods and processes described herein may be described with respect toparticular structural and/or functional components for ease ofdescription, methods of the invention are not limited to any particularstructural and/or functional architecture but instead can be implementedon any suitable hardware, firmware, and/or software configurator.Similarly, while various functionalities are ascribed to certain systemcomponents, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionalitycan be distributed among various other system components in accordancewith different embodiments of the invention.

Moreover, while the procedures comprised in the methods and processesdescribed herein are described in a particular order for ease ofdescription, unless the context dictates otherwise, various proceduresmay be reordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. Moreover, the procedures described withrespect to one method or process may be incorporated within otherdescribed methods or processes; likewise, system components describedaccording to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect toone system may be organized in alternative structural architecturesand/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while variousembodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease ofdescription and to illustrate exemplary features, the various componentsand/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodimentcan be substituted, added, and/or subtracted from among other describedembodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.

1. A communication system for facilitating enhanced communications, the system comprising: a computing device, comprising at least one processor, a data store in communication with the at least one processor, and at least one computer readable storage medium in communication with the at least one processor, the at least one computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions that are executable by the processor to cause the computer system to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising: instructions for storing, in the data store, contact data about a plurality of contacts, each of the contacts being an entity with whom a user of the communication system may engage in communications; instructions for identifying a contact of interest; instructions for obtaining, from the data store, a first set of contact information pertaining to the contact of interest; instructions for generating one or more conversation anchors pertaining to the contact of interest; instructions for providing communication between the user and the contact of interest; and instructions for displaying at least one of the one or more conversation anchors in conjunction with the communication between the user and the contact of interest.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is part of a supersystem for providing interactive communications services within a local network, the supersystem comprising: a tablet system, comprising a first client subsystem of the local network and a first user interface module configured to provide interactivity with first communications services provided by the first client subsystem; a handset system, comprising a second client subsystem of the local network and a second user interface module configured to provide interactivity with second communications services provided by the second client subsystem; and a base station system, comprising: a first interface subsystem configured to communicatively and removably couple the base station with the tablet system; a second interface subsystem configured to communicatively and removably couple the base station with the handset system; and a communications subsystem configured to communicatively couple the base station with the local area network such that at least a portion of the first and second communications services are provided via the base station.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the base station system comprises the computing device.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the tablet system comprises the computing device.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer readable storage medium comprises the data store.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating one or more conversation anchors comprise: instructions for searching a second data store using at least a portion of the first set of contact information as a search criteria; and instructions for generating one or more conversation anchors comprising information returned from a search of the second data store.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the second data store comprises public information relating to the at least a portion of the first set of contact information.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second data store comprises geographical information relating to an address of the contact of interest.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions for searching the second data store comprise instructions for searching at least one data store over the Internet.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for identifying a contact of interest comprise instructions for receiving, through a user interface, a selection of the contact of interest from an address book application.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for providing communication comprise instructions for providing voice communication.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for displaying at least one of the one or more conversation anchors in conjunction with the communication between the user and the contact of interest comprise: instructions for displaying the at least one of the one or more conversation anchors on a display screen of the computing device during the voice communications.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the voice communication comprises video communication.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein: the instructions for providing communication comprise instructions for displaying the video communication in a first region of the display screen; and the instructions for displaying the at least one of the one or more conversation anchors comprise instructions for displaying the at least one of the one or more conversation anchors in a second region of the display screen.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions for providing voice communication comprise instructions for receiving a telephone call originated by the contact of interest.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions for identifying a contact of interest comprise instructions for identifying the contact of interest based at least in part on caller identification information associated with the telephone call.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions for providing voice communication comprise instructions for placing a telephone call to the contact of interest.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the instructions for displaying at least one of the one or more conversation anchors in conjunction with the communication between the user and the contact of interest comprise: instructions for displaying the at least one of the one or more conversation anchors on a display screen of the computing device prior to placing the telephone call.
 19. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for providing communication comprise instructions for originating textual communication with the contact of interest.
 20. The system of claim 1, wherein the textual communication is selected from the group consisting of an electronic mail message, a chat message, a text message, a short messaging service (“SMS”) message, and a multimedia messaging service (“MMS”) message.
 21. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact information comprises a conversation history comprising data about one or more previous communications involving the contact of interest.
 22. An apparatus, comprising: a computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by one or more computers to perform one or more operations for facilitating enhanced communications, the set of instructions comprising: instructions for storing, in a data store, contact data about a plurality of contacts, each of the contacts being an entity with whom a user of the communication system may engage in communications; instructions for identifying a contact of interest; instructions for obtaining, from the data store, a first set of contact information pertaining to the contact of interest; instructions for generating one or more conversation anchors pertaining to the contact of interest; instructions for providing communication between the user and the contact of interest; and instructions for displaying at least one of the one or more conversation anchors in conjunction with the communication between the user and the contact of interest.
 23. A method of facilitating enhanced communications, the method comprising: storing, in a data store, contact data about a plurality of contacts, each of the contacts being an entity with whom a user of the communication system may engage in communications; identifying, with a computer system, a contact of interest; obtaining, from the data store, a first set of contact information pertaining to the contact of interest; generating, at the computer system, one or more conversation anchors pertaining to the contact of interest; providing communication between the user and the contact of interest; and displaying, on a display device of the computer system, at least one of the one or more conversation anchors in conjunction with the communication between the user and the contact of interest. 